Application of wheat meal solvent retention capacity tests within soft wheat breeding populations

The solvent retention capacity (SRC) test is a relatively new AACC Approved Method (56-11) for evaluating soft wheat flour quality. The test measures the ability of flour to retain a set of four solvents (water, 50% sucrose, 5% sodium carbonate, and 5% lactic acid) after centrifugation. The objective of this study was to evaluate the utility of wheat meal sodium carbonate and lactic acid SRC tests and SDS sedimentation volume within three populations of soft spring wheat inbred lines as tools for selecting for improved flour SRC profiles, flour extraction, and cookie and pastry quality. The populations were derived from the crosses Vanna/Penawawa, Kanto 107/IDO488, and M2/IDO470 and were grown in replicated, irrigated trials in 2000 and 2001 near Aberdeen, Idaho. Within each of the three populations, wheat meal sodium carbonate SRC effectively predicted straight-grade flour sodium carbonate (r = 0.69-0.81) and sucrose SRC (r = 0.74-0.84). Wheat meal sodium carbonate SRC also was negatively correlated with flour extraction and sugar snap cookie diameter. Wheat meal lactic acid SRC predicted straight-grade flour lactic acid SRC in only one population. In contrast, SDS sedimentation volume predicted straight-grade flour lactic acid SRC in all three populations (r = 0.74-0.93). Moreover, SDS sedimentation volume and wheat meal sodium carbonate SRC were independent in two of the three populations. This suggests that the SDS sedimentation and sodium carbonate SRC may measure different intrinsic characteristics. Therefore, a combination of sodium carbonate SRC and SDS sedimentation volume analyses of wheat meal may be an efficient approach to selecting toward target SRC profiles, increased flour extraction, and larger sugar snap cookie diameter in soft wheats.